Every generation has its own underground party whose influence lingers past the 6 AM last call. In the late ‘70s, 84 King Street was home to Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, the birthplace of garage music, which played the perfect black-sheep sibling to uptown’s Studio 54. In 1983, Eric and Christopher Goode’s Area nightclub opened as a constantly evolving performance-art party space where guests like Grace Jones and Boy George sometimes had to fight their way in past the door. We all know Michael Alig and his Club Kid gang extravagantly followed suit in the ‘90s, while The Misshapes garnered their own following in the early 2000s. But who was to take over the nightclub thrones left empty for the remainder of the decade?
In 2009, Venus X founded GHE20G0TH1K, a monthly party which started its early years at a small bar in Brooklyn and other raw warehouse venues throughout the city. Beginning in the grungy basements of NYC’s smaller dive locations, the party embraced all different types of guests, DJs, and everything inbetween. “I started the party because there was nowhere for my friends and I to go and exist in extremes, from punk to rap and fashion,” says Venus X. “It was just a vibe we needed that was not happening at the time, so we created it.”
Club kids mixed with the ballroom scene, who in turn got down on the dancefloor with the anime set. “GHE20G0TH1K made everyone realize you can wear what you want, fuck who you want, and have what you want,” says Asma Maroof of Nguzunguzu.
“It was the only event where I felt I could invite anybody I knew,” agrees resident DJ MikeQ. “You can’t just invite anybody anywhere, but [GHE20G0TH1K] was such a huge melting pot of everything, you could easily find your niche.”
GHE20G0TH1K also created its own genre of party music, with Venus usually on the tables playing a mix of hip-hop blends intertwined with Soca styles and R&B Queens. “We were very experimental and aggressive. We used any form of sound to DJ, and it was pretty open format,” says Venus. “We could play anything from gospel music to hardstyle. We were just being obnoxious.” Even with the stylish throng of attendees, dressed to the nines in whatever the hell they wanted, the most influential part of the party was the music.
“I remember Physical Therapy playing the entire Sunshine Anderson acapella by itself in the middle of his set, Shayne and Venus endlessly wheeling back to a Biggie song, and somebody seeing how Angerfist could touch Tracey Chapman,” says recurring guest DJ Total Freedom. “Or just being REALLY gross in that little basement while playing on one broken speaker.”
After a more than five-year run (and multiple breaks in between), GHE20G0TH1K is trading in the long nights for hangover pills with a final party on May 2. While all good things must sadly come to an end, it’s quite apparent that GHE20G0TH1K’s influence will continue to inform NYC culture and parties to come. “Everyone who has been influenced knows [GHE20G0TH1K]’s influence and how it's influenced them, so that's enough,” says Hood By Air designer and regular GHE20G0TH1K DJ Shayne Oliver.
Similar to the iconic parties before it’s time, GHE20G0TH1K has established itself as more than a party; it’s a movement. “GHE20G0TH1K has and always will be about freedom,” says Oliver. “Social freedom, sexual freedom, musical freedom.”
In 2009, Venus X founded GHE20G0TH1K, a monthly party which started its early years at a small bar in Brooklyn and other raw warehouse venues throughout the city. Beginning in the grungy basements of NYC’s smaller dive locations, the party embraced all different types of guests, DJs, and everything inbetween. “I started the party because there was nowhere for my friends and I to go and exist in extremes, from punk to rap and fashion,” says Venus X. “It was just a vibe we needed that was not happening at the time, so we created it.”
Club kids mixed with the ballroom scene, who in turn got down on the dancefloor with the anime set. “GHE20G0TH1K made everyone realize you can wear what you want, fuck who you want, and have what you want,” says Asma Maroof of Nguzunguzu.
“It was the only event where I felt I could invite anybody I knew,” agrees resident DJ MikeQ. “You can’t just invite anybody anywhere, but [GHE20G0TH1K] was such a huge melting pot of everything, you could easily find your niche.”
GHE20G0TH1K also created its own genre of party music, with Venus usually on the tables playing a mix of hip-hop blends intertwined with Soca styles and R&B Queens. “We were very experimental and aggressive. We used any form of sound to DJ, and it was pretty open format,” says Venus. “We could play anything from gospel music to hardstyle. We were just being obnoxious.” Even with the stylish throng of attendees, dressed to the nines in whatever the hell they wanted, the most influential part of the party was the music.
“I remember Physical Therapy playing the entire Sunshine Anderson acapella by itself in the middle of his set, Shayne and Venus endlessly wheeling back to a Biggie song, and somebody seeing how Angerfist could touch Tracey Chapman,” says recurring guest DJ Total Freedom. “Or just being REALLY gross in that little basement while playing on one broken speaker.”
After a more than five-year run (and multiple breaks in between), GHE20G0TH1K is trading in the long nights for hangover pills with a final party on May 2. While all good things must sadly come to an end, it’s quite apparent that GHE20G0TH1K’s influence will continue to inform NYC culture and parties to come. “Everyone who has been influenced knows [GHE20G0TH1K]’s influence and how it's influenced them, so that's enough,” says Hood By Air designer and regular GHE20G0TH1K DJ Shayne Oliver.
Similar to the iconic parties before it’s time, GHE20G0TH1K has established itself as more than a party; it’s a movement. “GHE20G0TH1K has and always will be about freedom,” says Oliver. “Social freedom, sexual freedom, musical freedom.”